Kamen Rider Cyber
by maxpower02
Summary: The life of university student and YouTube actress Tran Thi Hao was turned upside down the moment she encountered Cyber, a mysterious AI program. Together they are dragged into a conflict between humanity and the Malwares, monstrous beings lurking from behind our computer screens. They also must deal with other Kamen Riders, in a battle royale to determine who stands on top!


**A/N: What's up guys? maxpower02 here with…yet another Kamen Rider story. I know. I'm quite swamped with college work, I got myself a part-time job, but I'm pushing on with my plans of writing not one, not two, but THREE Kamen Rider stories simultaneously on this site. Basically this will take place in the same shared universe that I've established, and it'll take place also in 2023, around the same time as my other stories** _ **Kamen Rider Voyager**_ **and** _ **Kamen Rider Zard**_ **. And if** _ **Voyager**_ **serves as a shout-out to** _ **Ultraman Orb**_ **and** _ **Zard**_ **is what'll happen if** _ **Kamen Rider Fourze**_ **meets** _ **Kamen Rider Amazons**_ **, this one…how I can say this…it's basically** _ **Ex-Aid**_ **meets** _ **Ryuki**_ **meets** _ **Gaim**_ **meets** _ **Ultraman X**_ **meets** _ **Denno Bokenki Webdiver**_ **. Confused? Me too. But expect lots and lots of Riders battling kaijins and also each other!**

 **So basically my plan is to do the first chapter of this story, before making chapter 2 of** _ **Zard**_ **, and then making chapter 2 of this one, and then chapters 3 of** _ **Zard**_ **and this story, before proceeding with** _ **Voyager**_ **'s chapter 4 and then alternating with the following order:** _ **Voyager**_ **-** _ **Zard**_ **-this story. So don't expect me to update my stories often…since you know, three stories + lots of real life commitments = I'm gonna die. Like seriously lol**

 **Without further ado, buckle up and enjoy maxpower02's third installment on his** _ **2023 Riders Trinity Generations**_ **(working title),** _ **Kamen Rider Cyber**_ **!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Kamen Rider, TOEI does.**

 **xxx**

 _The year is 2023. Humanity has slowly but surely evolved in terms of technology. Every passing year a variety of sophisticated gadgets, state-of-the-art operation systems, mind-blowing applications, and jaw-dropping programs were created and released to the general public. It's like every single year, every single month, every single week, every single day, every single hour, every single minute, and even every single second, humanity and technology were slowly integrating into each other. Humans couldn't live without technology, and vice-versa, technology could not exist without the humans that created it. This integration process went on for years and years, until at one point…_

… _the humans have made a breakthrough. Or should I say, technology had found its way to breach itself from its own dimension into the real world._

 _Late 2016 until mid-2017s saw the rise of the Bugsters, a deadly strain of computer virus born during Y2K from a computer owned by a technological genius, Kuroto Dan. The Bugsters were not like your usual computer viruses, they were capable of infecting humans, turning them into creatures resembling video game characters brought to life, specifically video games that had been compromised by the Bugsters. The Bugsters were the first signs that technology has started to rear its ugly head on mankind. But that was just the beginning._

 _Stemming from the same Y2K bug that spawned the Bugsters were a much more sinister variant of computer virus, this time actually transforming people into monstrous versions of malicious software commonly found in computers. Viruses, Trojans, worms, ransomwares, rogue antiviruses, you name it, this strain of computer virus will bring it to life. Like the Bugsters, this virus aimed to replicate itself into the real world, but unlike the Bugsters, who behaved like video game characters with their own sets of rules, this virus threw that rulebook away with only one goal in its mind – transforming the real world, into the digital world. Or specifically, turning the humans' picturesque and breathtaking world into the same hellhole that happened to mine. The name of this fearsome virus…the Malwares. And it will take no mercy of anything that it attacked._

 _My name is Cyber. I'm a sentient program created by the digital world itself, tasked in overseeing things in the digital realm, protecting the peace and upholding justice in the world behind your computer screen. Alongside a set of other similarly coded sentient programs, we defended the digital world from any threats…until the Malwares showed up. Turning our beloved homeland into a living Hell, it took human intervention to salvage our codes from our doomed realm, enabling us to exist in the real world. Programmed into a series of devices, we are tasked in working together with the humans in protecting the real world from the Malwares, so that what had happened to our world, wouldn't happen to theirs._

 _But little did we know, certain humans had tampered with our programming, turning our fight from a straightforward crusade against the Malwares…into a fight to determine who's the strongest among ourselves. A battle royale where only one could stand tall._

 _My name is Cyber, and this…is our story._

 **xxx**

 _ **KAMEN RIDER CYBER**_

 **Episode 1: WHAT?! I'm a Kamen Rider?!**

 **OP: Burst the Gravity – ALTIMA**

 **xxx**

 _ **Downtown Hanoi, Vietnam**_

"I'm breaking up with you."

The young woman's eyes immediately went wide upon hearing that. Clearly in disbelief on what she had just heard, the young woman immediately asked, "Why? Are you serious?"

"Yes, yes I am," the young man in front of the woman replied, adjusting his thin-framed glasses sadly, "It's just…I don't feel any chemistry between us anymore. Our relationship…is going nowhere, you know? I'm really sorry, but…we're done."

And with that the young man slowly turned around, before walking away from the young woman. Clearly overwhelmed by her emotions, the young woman's eyes teared up, a teardrop escaping her left eye. At the same time sadness had also overwhelmed the young man, even though he's not crying, his slow and reluctant walk indicated that he too was affected by his break-up.

That is, until the young man made a thumbs up gesture at another young man in front of him. The second young man, who was holding a medium-sized digital film camera, immediately stopped recording, giving the first young man a thumbs up as well.

"Cut!" the first young man announced, a smile of relief on his face, "That's a wrap!"

The young woman immediately wiped away her tears as she headed towards the two young men, eager to see what the second young man has recorded, "How was it?"

"I can't believe you guys made it in just two shots," the second young man replied, showing the first young man and the young woman the video that he had taken, "The emotions, the drama, the sadness…everything's conveyed perfectly in this shot."

"Nice!" the first young man pumped his fists in delight, "But to be honest, I'll never do that scene again…ever. Even though I'm single…breaking up with someone…it drained my emotions, y'know?"

"Same here," the young woman chuckled, "Guess being single for now isn't bad at all, eh Duc?"

Duc, the first young man, gave the young woman a nod of agreement.

"But then again Hao, our web series is quite the long runner," the second young man chimed in, "We'll have plenty of break-up scenes to go through in due time…but it's up to our director here, though."

"Yeah," grinned Hao, the young woman, as she gave Duc a playful punch to his shoulder, "Go get yourself a fictional girlfriend again and break-up with her."

Duc lets out an uneasy smile, "Depends on how I'm going to plan out the rest of our series though…but I think our next break-up scene will involve Dong here."

"Don't look at me like that!" Dong, the second young man, gawked as he realized that both Duc and Hao are looking at him mischievously, "My relationship with my fictional girlfriend's doing fine!"

"We'll see," Duc grinned mischievously, "We'll see…"

"Since our scene for today is over, shall we take a rest for half an hour?" Hao suggested, "If you guys are looking for me, I'll be at our tent."

"Sure thing!" Duc gave Hao the thumbs up, "We'll be buying lunch for the cast and crew in a few minutes. There's a Jollibee near here and they're having a discount, so we'll be having a fried chicken party later."

"Awesome!" Hao exclaimed, giving Duc the OK gesture, "See you guys then!"

 **xxx**

20-year old Tran Thi Hao was a YouTube star on the rise. Alongside her two best friends, 21-year old Hoang Van Duc and 22-year old Ho Van Dong, and an assorted cast and crew consisting of their respective friends, they had created the online web series " _SVM Mi Tom_ ," that depicted the daily lives of university students in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. Duc was the series' director and main actor, while Hao was one of the main actresses. Dong was another main actor of the series, but whenever he's not in the scene, he's manning the camera alongside the camera crew.

 _SVM Mi Tom_ had quickly gained popularity among the Vietnamese youths and even abroad, and when you look at the series' main characters, you can easily see why. Hao's chin-length auburn hair and thick glasses made her a standout amongst the other cast, with her athletic figure, fair white skin, and cute face made her one of the more popular actress of the series among the male audiences. Her love for the English Premier League side Arsenal had also made her popular amongst the city's football-mad population – imagine a cute, talented girl, who also has the same passion as you do. Obviously a lot of guys had gone head over heels for Hao, but the young woman prefers to focus herself on both her academic studies and her fledgling acting career. "The right guy will come up to your doorstep at the right time," that was one of Hao's personal philosophies.

With his nerdy looks (complemented by that short and slightly greased black hair and his signature thin-framed glasses), Duc had also established a fan-base of his own. While his directorial works earned the compliments of his fellow filmmakers from all over Vietnam, Duc's acting skills also earned him a lot of admirations. Despite his rather short and average figure, Duc has proven that you don't need to look dashingly handsome in order to be famous. On top of his acting and directorial skills, Duc was also known as one of Hanoi's technological geniuses, being one of the founding members of Hanoi's Mensa chapter.

Speaking of dashingly handsome, that title was deservedly given to Dong, who at 180 centimeters was the tallest cast member of _SVM Mi Tom_. His slightly tanned, well-toned, athletic and muscular build had earned her a lot of admirers from the opposite sex, while his messy dark brown hair and trimmed goatee adds more to his charming looks. Like Hao, Dong's an avid football fan, but he opted to support Spanish Liga BBVA giants Real Madrid, hence wearing their jersey in every single occasion. Unfortunately for his suitors, Dong doesn't plan to have a relationship with anyone any time soon, as he's still recovering from the loss of his previous girlfriend, who went missing five years ago. Thanks to Hao and Duc as well as their friends, Dong was able to move on with his life, but the memories of his missing girlfriend still lingered in the young man's mind throughout the past five years.

 **xxx**

Back to our story, Hao had made her way to a medium-sized white tent that she and the other _SVM Mi Tom_ crew had set up earlier that day. Inside, Hao immediately sat down on the tent's tarp floor, picking up a bottle of mineral water from a nearby foldable table and gulping down its contents within seconds.

"Easy there girl, save some room for lunch."

Another young woman, also aged around 20, sat down next to Hao, a cheerful smile on her face. Le Thi Thuy Linh was Hao's co-star in _SVM Mi Tom_ , a tall, slender, and athletic young woman with pearl white skin and long, wavy black hair that is styled into a ponytail. Completing her characteristic look were a pair of round-framed glasses. Affectionately called "Linh Chuon" ( _chuon_ being the Vietnamese for "dragonfly") because of her glasses that resembled the eyes of a dragonfly (not to mention her slender posture that resembled a dragonfly's slender body), she was the most popular female cast member of _SVM Mi Tom_ , with Hao closely behind her. Linh Chuon and Hao had been close friends since _SVM Mi Tom_ had started filming, even though their respective universities and homes are at the opposite sides of Hanoi.

"I know, I know," Hao replied sheepishly, closing her bottle before placing it back on the table, "It's just my last scene was quite intense. I think it drained my battery straight away!"

Linh Chuon chuckled, "And to think my scenes for the day were quite intense…"

"At least you didn't have to break-up with someone," Hao playfully punches Linh Chon on the shoulder, causing the latter to slightly flinch comically, "Even though it's not for real, it's still quite emotionally draining, you know!"

Linh Chuon continued to chuckle, before regaining control of herself seconds later, "Alright, alright. By the way, where are the boys?"

"Duc and Dong are buying us lunch," Hao replied, "I think Inferno's at the toilet and Tre's taking a smoke outside our tent, while Ryn's off charging that fancy drone of his…"

"Man, I'm still salty because of him," Linh Chuon uttered, "I mean I've been searching for a drone to help us in taking aerial shots easier for quite a while when all of a sudden, Ryn got back home from his uncle's place in Osaka with that thing. That drone model hasn't even hit the store shelves here in Hanoi!"

"There's always next time, Chuon," Hao patted her friend on the shoulder, "Maybe with all of those money that you've saved up, you'll get something that'll blow Ryn off his socks. And who knows? With luck like yours, maybe that moment will be around the corner soon enough."

"Perhaps. Maybe if I participate in this week's Vietlotto draw, I'll get that lucky winning number that'll give me all the money that I need," Linh Chuon grinned, before her nose picked up something familiar, "Oh boy, is it me or we're going to have a fried chicken feast this afternoon?"

"And not just any chicken."

Hao and Linh Chuon turned their attention towards the tent's entrance just in time to see Duc and Dong entering it, carrying with them several plastic bags with the familiar cartoon bee logo of Jollibee emblazoned on them.

"Jollibee fried chicken," Duc continued, waving his plastic bags at the two young women much to their delight, "Sorry for keeping you two waiting."

"On the contrary, you guys were quite quick," Hao said, "Didn't have to wait too long at the restaurant, huh?"

Dong nodded, "Yeah, the place's kinda empty, maybe because it's way past lunchtime. But then again, if the restaurant's not crowded, that means we're able to get our chickens even faster."

"Nice!" Hao exclaimed in delight, taking two plastic bags from Duc, "Linh Chuon, here's yours."

"Thanks," Linh Chuon replied as she accepted a plastic bag from Hao, "Shall I call the others?"

"Please do," Duc nodded, "Dong, go with Linh Chuon, will you?"

Within minutes every _SVM Mi Tom_ cast and crew member at the area were gathered at the tent after Linh Chuon and Dong had called them over there. The group then enjoyed their fried chicken lunch together, passing the time until it was time for them to shoot the next scene, which will be the final scene of the day.

 **xxx**

 _ **Later that evening**_

 _ **Thanh Xuan District**_

As the Sun slowly starts to set above Hanoi, Hao, Duc, and Dong navigated their way through the Vietnamese capital's bustling streets on their motorbikes, with Duc hitching a ride on Hao's red and white Honda XR250 and Dong riding solo on his black and gold Honda DN-01. The orange tinted sky above the city provided the three youths with something breathtaking to see along their long way back home through the bustling rush-hour traffic of the city, packed with commuters heading home from their respective workplaces.

While the trio lived as neighbors in the Hanoi's Thanh Xuan District in the western side of the city (with Hao living alone and Duc and Dong living together just three houses away), their respective universities were literally at the other side of the city, with Duc and Dong's Hanoi University of Science and Technology located in the heart of the city (near Linh Chuon's National Economics University) and Hao's Hanoi University of Agriculture located on the east of Hanoi. This meant that Duc (who doesn't have a motorcycle) has to hitch a ride on either Dong's or Hao's motorcycle in order to go to campus, the latter if she doesn't have any early classes. Hao honestly doesn't mind if she has to go to Duc and Dong's university first – she truly enjoyed being in the company of her friends, so much so that the distance factor between her friends' and her own university was ignored altogether.

"Man, what a day," Duc said, trying to strike up a conversation as the two motorcycles had found themselves stuck in yet another traffic jam, "I didn't expect today's shooting to be…this tiring."

"It's probably because we're doing the more difficult scenes for this weekend's episode," Hao replied, trying to raise her voice through the cacophony of horns blaring from vehicles around them, "I mean…our break-up scene back there was quite intense."

"True," Duc nodded, his voice raised as well, "The viewers at home had always thought that we made the perfect couple on screen. Well…if they watch this weekend's episode…they'll be very, very disappointed."

"I feel kinda bad for them," Hao said, "What do you think, Dong?"

"They'll be disappointed, surely, but I think they'll be even more curious about what'll happen between you two," Dong replied, his voice almost sounded like shouting due to the traffic noises, "The audience love plot twists, and I'm pretty sure that ours will definitely blow their mind."

"Let's hope it would," Duc said, "Hao's character and mine had been together for 75 consecutive episodes and having them break-up is indeed a gamble. Let's hope this pays off and people won't be put off watching _Mi Tom_ after what happened between our characters."

 **xxx**

 _ **One hour later**_

"See you tomorrow guys," Hao waved goodbye at Duc and Dong after she had arrived at her house, a rather simple-looking flat building located in one of Hanoi's many back alleys. The building was rather dilapidated in state, having being built during the heyday of the _Doi Moi_ in the late 80s, however it was still livable. The owner of the two-storey building has decided to rent out 7 out of 8 of the building's rooms to students and workers from outside Hanoi who were seeking cheap accommodation during their stay in the city. The building's rent was quite affordable and it has its own motorcycle parking space (which was rare among back alley buildings in Hanoi), hence why Hao has chosen the place as her home.

After sending off Duc and Dong, Hao went to her room, located in the building's first floor. As she reached a wooden door with the copper numbers " **105** " nailed on it, Hao reached for her purse, trying to fish out her room key. Unknown to her, someone was sneaking up on Hao from behind, letting out silent yet mischievous chuckles.

"Yo!"

"Holy mother of shit!" Hao cursed out of reflex, causing her to drop her purse much to the delight of the person behind her, who was laughing out loud. Mentally cursing even more as she picked up her purse, Hao quickly turned around and immediately recognized who had surprised her, "Damn you, Hoa!"

Pham Mai Hoa grinned from ear to ear upon seeing Hao's rather irritated expression, "I guess I got you again, huh?"

Hao's next door neighbor and another close friend of hers, 21-year old Hoa was hawker by day, manga artist by night. While in afternoons she usually operated at the banks of Hanoi's famous Hoan Kiem Lake selling snacks and beverages, in evenings Hoa usually returned home early to continue her weekly manga strips that she usually posted online in the Internet. A stark contrast to the athletically build Hao, Hoa has a rather stocky build, though her arms were rather muscular from lifting up her heavy cooler where she usually kept all the beverages that she's selling. Her skin was slightly tanned from all of those hours working in the notoriously hot Hanoian afternoon, while her chin-length black hair was styled in a bob, her trademark red hibiscus flower hairpin adorning it.

"Girl, you literally have to stop sneaking up on me like that," Hao sighed, taking out her room key from her purse and using it to unlock her room, "I'm kinda tired today, so I think I'll call it a day early."

"You don't want to read this new manga that I've just got off the mail?" Hoa asked, causing Hao to pause immediately, "I just got back from checking out my mail and I've gotten myself the newest copies of _Pink Dark Boy_!"

Setting aside her fatigue, Hao immediately rushed towards Hoa excitedly, " _Pink Dark Boy_? As in Rohan Kishibe's _Pink Dark Boy_?!"

Hoa nodded, "Yeah! Can't believe Araki took the effort in turning Rohan's fictional manga into reality! I've gotten myself the entire 6 _tankobons_ that they had so far for references. Want to read them?"

"Hell yes!" Hao exclaimed, clenching her fists in excitement before she quickly regained control of herself, "I mean, I do need some reading material before I go to sleep tonight."

Delighted that her friend took interest of the manga books that she had just got, Hoa reached for the paper bag that she's carrying, taking out six pink books, all of them depicting an anime-styled boy wearing a white top hat and a white tuxedo in various situations.

"Choose which one you want to read for the night," Hoa offered the books to Hao, "Don't worry, these six _tankobons_ are separate stories, which means that you don't need to read it from the first issue to get the plot."

"You're going to use these for your references, right?" Hao asked, which Hoa replied with a nod, "I'll take the second issue then. I'm betting that you're going to need the first issue for your references tonight, huh?"

"You know me so well," Hoa replied sheepishly, giving Hao the second issue of _Pink Dark Boy_ before placing the rest in her paper bag, "Well if you excuse me, I'm going to continue my strip. If everything goes according to plan, later tonight you should see it on my Facebook page."

"Sure thing. Thanks for the manga," Hao said, letting out a thankful smile at Hoa as she entered her room.

After Hao had disappeared into her room, Hoa decided to enter her own room as well, tossing her paper bag onto her bed and heading straight towards her desk. Resting on it was a modified Nintendo Switch gaming console, having being tweaked to function as Hoa's drawing pad as well.

"Time to wrap up this week's manga strip," Hoa licked her lips in eagerness, picking up her stylus pen before she continued drawing from where she had left off.

 **xxx**

 _ **Duc and Dong's residence**_

Meanwhile, down the road from Hao and Hoa's apartment, Duc and Dong had arrived at their own residence. It was a medium-sized house, built around the same time as Hao and Hoa's apartment, only slightly neater in appearance and with only one floor. It has five rooms, consisting of a kitchen, a small living room, a bathroom, and Duc and Dong's respective rooms. The house was rented under Duc's name, with the landlord visiting the two occasionally from his nearby hometown of Ha Duong.

"You're going straight to bed?" Duc asked as he hanged up his helmet behind the house's main door, "I'm going to cook dinner for us in an hour."

"I'm okay," Dong replied as he headed straight for his room, "I'll be checking my e-mails for a bit, then I'll catch up with you."

"If you need a rest, just take it," Duc said, "We had quite an intense shoot today, so I advise you to take some rest. Don't want our favorite cameraman to get sick, do we?"

"Gotcha bossman," Dong winked, disappearing into his room seconds afterwards.

After he had washed his feet and hands, Duc retreated back to his room, closing his room's door along the way. Being the genius that he was, Duc usually spent his free time outside of filming and acting by constructing a variety of home-made gadgets, ranging from a self-made digital clock that he installed onto his room's wall, a functioning handmade desktop computer with an operating system that Duc has coded himself, and last but not least, an iPhone battery charging case that he had crafted himself over the past few weeks.

As Duc threw himself against his small reclining chair, his computer's monitor screen suddenly flashed into life, displaying a 3D model of a silver, somewhat emotionless face, with white eyes and green irises.

" _ **Hello Duc**_ **,** " the face greeted in a smooth and gentle computerized male voice, " _ **You've just came back from your filmmaking duties?**_ "

"Oh, hi there Cyber," Duc greeted back, fatigue evident in his voice, "Yeah, I just came back. Shit's been real tiring today."

Cyber was Duc's digital assistant, who mysteriously showed up one day while the young man was coding his computer's operating system. Even though he had no idea on who or what had created Cyber, Duc decided to integrate the mysterious program into his operating system, seeing that Cyber's capability of integrating himself into any piece of technology and perfecting them as something beneficial for his gadgets, especially the fact that Cyber had helped him crafted the blueprints of some of them. Cyber had also provided Duc with beneficial help in video editing and uploading, thus allowing new episodes of _SVM Mi Tom_ to be released each week on schedule every single time.

" _ **Take some rest, you're going to have another filming tomorrow**_ **,** " Cyber advised.

"Can't do," Duc shook his head, "I need to cook dinner for myself and Dong, and also I need to finish this charging case for my application…"

" _ **Ah yes, your application for a position at Digi2100 Corporation**_ **,** " Cyber said, " _ **And also your transformation device into a…**_ "

"Hush!" Duc interrupted, "Don't say it out loud. Dong will hear us."

" _ **Sorry**_ **,** " Cyber replied, rather nervously.

"It's okay," Duc calmed down his digital assistant, "I mean, the salary at Digi2100 Corporation's quite huge for even the lowest position there, so I understand that people would take huge risks such as fighting monsters and stuff in order to get it."

" _ **Don't forget about the other applicants**_ **,** " Cyber added.

"True," Duc nodded, "But hey, if we're overwhelmed in fighting these Malware creatures by ourselves, we can always ask for their help, right?"

Cyber went silent, a rather sad expression was etched on his face.

"What's wrong?" Duc asked.

" _ **Nothing,**_ " Cyber lets out a small smile, " _ **Don't worry Duc. We've been preparing for this for quite a while and I'm confident that you'll become a great…**_ " Cyber paused for a moment, before continuing, " _ **…Kamen Rider.**_ "

A smirk appeared on Duc's face.

 **xxx**

Meanwhile, inside Dong's room, the man is question was also fixed in front of his desktop computer, opening and reading through his emails. Most of them were fan-mails from his many female admirers, which he replied with some light and witty banter. But just as he had finished replying them all…

"What's this?"

Dong's eyes went wide in curiosity as he saw a new email that had just arrived in his inbox. It came from an unknown sender, with its subject written as " **Jerusalem**."

"Jeru…salem?" Dong asked to himself as he clicked the email out of curiousness, leading to a download link displaying itself on his screen, " ?"

With a million questions flooding through his mind, Dong slowly clicked on the download link on his screen, thinking that he would get an answer behind his questions.

Instead, the screen suddenly turned blue, sending out a radiating flash of blue light that penetrated Dong's eyes within seconds. And as soon as it started, the flash disappeared, sending Dong back into his email inbox, with the mysterious email deleting itself from the inbox.

"What on Earth was that?" Dong wondered, unaware that his eyes were flashing blue for a few seconds before reverting back into normal.

Shrugging his shoulders, Dong exited his email inbox and proceeds to listen to his favorite tunes, blissfully unaware of what's growing inside of him.

 **xxx**

Outside Duc and Dong's house stood a young woman, clad in black from head to toe. The young woman was around 19 years of age, with a medium build, slightly tanned skin, straight, shoulder-length black hair with a diagonal bang over her forehead, and completing her look were a pair of rectangular glasses on her face and a black New York Yankees baseball cap on her head. On her hands was a heavily modified iPad, the words " **JERUSALEM . EXE: DELIVERED** " displayed on its screen in blood red letters.

"Let the games begin," the young woman smirked sinisterly as she quietly retreated into the shadows.

 **xxx**

 _ **The next day**_

The morning sun's gentle and warm rays slowly tickled Duc's face through his room's window, slowly rousing the man up from his sleep. Rubbing his still drowsy eyes, Duc stretched his muscles for a few seconds before slowly getting out of his bed. As Duc prepared himself for his usual morning shower, he took one last glance at the device that he had tinkered on for so long, finally completed last night after Duc had pulled off an all-nighter on it.

The iPhone battery charging case was dark green in color, with silver circuitry accents and yellow highlighting. Its upper section was detachable, enabling one to place an iPhone there to be charged before closing it up. The charger tip located inside the case was yellow in color with green accents, unlike the usual copper ones that Apple had.

Proud at his creation, Duc hummed happily as he left his room for the shower. However when he was about to enter the bathroom, he saw Dong sitting still on the edge of his bed, his skin was decorated in a strange network of bluish lines.

"You okay?" Duc asked.

Dong slowly looked towards his friend, his expression pained but he's trying his best to look fine in front of Duc, "I'm good. You're going to take a shower, right? Go on. I'll catch up later."

"You sure? You don't look alright to me," Duc said, his tone concerned.

Dong replied with a thumbs up, "Nah I'm okay. Maybe it's just me being sleepy."

Nodding slowly and concernedly, Duc slowly went towards the bathroom, his thoughts still focused on Dong's wellbeing.

 **xxx**

 _ **Hoa Binh Park, later that afternoon**_

"Cut! That's a wrap."

Hao lets out a relieved sigh, before proceeding to grab a nearby bottle of water and drinking it. Her co-star for the scene that had just finished, 21-year old Le Tuan Ai (affectionately called Inferno by his friends), signaled Hao to pass him the bottle of water, which she immediately obliged.

"That went well," Hao commented as Inferno finished up the bottle of water, "After 5 consecutive takes…"

"I know," Inferno nodded, tossing the now empty bottle into a nearby trash can, "You know how perfectionist Duc is, right?"

Inferno was a medium-sized young man, with spiky black hair styled in a slight Mohawk-style, fair white skin, and a pair of thick, rectangular-framed glasses on his face. A talented guitarist and composer who had composed the opening and ending themes for _SVM Mi Tom_ , Inferno was openly homosexual, a fact that was warmly accepted by his friends in the _SVM Mi Tom_ crew.

"Yeah, the guy would make us take the same scene over and over again if we made the slightest of mistakes," Hao replied in agreement, "But at least it's worth it, right?"

As if on cue, Duc approached the two, having finished reviewing the newly shot scene with his cameraman. Even though the young man was clearly tired from today's shoot, his eyes were still flared up in determination to finish the scenes for today as soon as possible.

"Hao, stand by at the tent," Duc told Hao, before turning his attention towards Inferno, "As for you, get ready. We're going to film a scene with you after this."

"Roger that," Inferno saluted Duc as Hao lets out a nod.

"Dong and Linh, come out now," Duc called out, "It's time for your scene!"

As Hao made her way to the crew's tent, she passed by Linh Chuon, giving her friend a solid high five for the latter's good luck. Entering the tent, Hao was soon greeted by the sight of a clearly unwell Dong slowly staggering up to his feet, his skin in a sickly tinge of blue.

"Dong!" Hao gasped, "Are you okay?"

Immediately as Hao went over to help Dong, the young man held up his right hand to stop her.

"I'm good," Dong told Hao as he slowly limped past her, the young woman clearly noticing the sweat drenching the man's skin, "My body's a bit feverish today but I'm pretty sure that I'll pull through. Duc wanted this scene to be completed today and I don't want to slow everyone down with my condition."

"But…"

"Hao, it's okay," Dong interrupted, "I'll drink some medicine after my scene. Don't worry, my scene for today isn't that intense, so I think I could make it even in my condition right now."

Hao was left speechless by Dong's stubbornness, and before she could say anything else, the sickly young man was gone. Sighing in frustration, Hao threw herself on a nearby chair, picking up her iPhone from her pocket and scrolling through her contact list for her family doctor's number, hoping to ask his help to check on Dong later today.

But adding more to her frustration, her phone's battery indicator had gone red, with only 10% of power left.

"For God's sake," Hao sighed loudly, placing her phone on a nearby table before her eyes scanned her surroundings for anything that she could use to charge her phone for the time being.

And then, she saw it.

Duc's handmade iPhone charging case, lying idly on the same table where Hao had placed her phone. Looking left, right, and behind her, Hao made sure that no-one's there to see her.

" _An iPhone charging case, and it looks like one of Duc's homemade gadgets…I'm sure that Duc won't mind if I borrow this for a while_ ," Hao thought as she picked up the charging case, opening its upper section before inserting her iPhone into the case and closing the case back up. Hao then proceeded to activate the case by pressing a small yellow button located on the back of the case.

But much to Hao's shock, instead of the usual battery charging screen, Hao's iPhone displayed a green download screen the moment the case was activated, with a yellow process bar. The words " **Downloading Cyber Interface Application: 20%** " were displayed in yellow digital fonts above the process bar, the number corresponding to how much the bar was filled. And before Hao could do anything else, the process bar immediately filled itself up, completing the download process.

"What the heck…" Hao muttered in shock as her iPhone's screen went black.

Suddenly, after a few seconds of silence, Hao's iPhone whirred back to life once again, this time displaying Cyber's silver visage.

" _ **Ah, it's good to be finally installed**_ **,** " Cyber declared, before his green eyes made contact with Hao's shocked black ones, " _ **Duc? Is that you?**_ "

Immediately Hao shrieked out in shock, throwing her phone to the table as she backed away from it.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my phone?!" Hao gawked.

" _ **I should ask you the same thing,**_ " Cyber replied, " _ **What are you doing with Duc's phone?**_ "

"Duc's phone?" Hao blinked, "No, no, you've got it all wrong. It's my phone…the only thing that is related to Duc is this charging case that I'm borrowing from him to charge my phone."

" _ **Duc you idiot,**_ " Cyber sighed, if he had hands he would be face-palming right now, " _ **You should have brought the case with you at all times you buffoon!**_ "

"Eh?" Hao blinked again, the young woman in complete confusion on what's going on.

" _ **My apologies,**_ " Cyber said, " _ **My name is Cyber, I'm Duc's digital assistant. This charging case was created by Duc in order to integrate myself with his phone…but unfortunately since you used it first, I ended up installing myself in your phone. May I know your name?**_ "

"My name is Tran Thi Hao," Hao introduced herself, "I'm one of Duc's close friends. I swear to God I have no intention to…"

" _ **It's okay,**_ " Cyber interrupted, " _ **I already told the guy to bring this charging case with him whenever he's out working…but apparently he's too busy to remember that.**_ "

"Agreed, Duc can be quite neglectful if he's too focused with his work," Hao chimed in, knowing all too well about her friend's bad habit.

" _ **Guess your phone happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, huh?**_ " Cyber chuckled uneasily, " _ **Man, guess you're stuck with me now…**_ "

"What do you mean?" Hao asked.

" _ **The case that Duc had built was a one-way installer, meaning once I had installed myself on a device, that device would be my new, permanent home,**_ " Cyber replied, " _ **I could still move around Duc's other gadgets that I had integrated myself into as well as his computer, however I couldn't uninstall myself from your phone and back into that charging case. Duc had designed it so that he could carry me around with him.**_ "

"Shit," Hao bit her lower lip uneasily, "What am I going to tell Duc about this…"

" _ **No worries, I'll explain it to him**_ **,** " Cyber told Hao, the latter still feeling uneasy about this, " _ **Don't worry, I can guarantee that the guy wouldn't flip at you. First of all, it was an accident. Secondly, you two are close friends, right? I'm pretty sure Duc will let you off the hook because you're one of his close friends…hopefully**_ **.** "

"Hopefully," Hao lets out an uneasy sigh, picking up a nearby glass of water and gulping down its entire content within seconds, "Anyway, why haven't I heard anything about you from Duc at all? The guy usually shared some details or two about his inventions to us, but he never told us that he had an artificial intelligence as his assistant."

" _ **That's because I'm not Duc's creation,**_ " Cyber began his explanation, " _ **About six months ago, Duc discovered me on the Internet while he was setting up his own desktop computer set. Of course he was amazed by my existence…never before someone had found a fully functional artificial intelligence system just lying around on the World Wide Web like that. And soon enough, he decided to enlist my help in improving his inventions, as at that time his creations were…kinda mediocre, if I can say. In return, Duc provided me with the perfect save haven for me to thrive.**_ "

"Carry on," Hao said, picking up her phone and sitting down on a nearby chair.

" _ **Duc used my programming to overhaul his desktop's operating system, basically developing his own OS from scratch with me as its centerpiece. He also allowed me to integrate myself with his inventions, thus making them more effective and functional. Last but not least…do you know why people love SVM Mi Tom so much? Why Duc has been able to create such high quality movie for his YouTube channel in such short notice?**_ "

Hao shrugged, prompting Cyber to let out a smile escaping his lips.

And then the realization hits Hao.

"It was you?!" Hao gawked.

If he could nod, Cyber would have done so, " _ **You're right. Duc and I edited the scenes that he had taken and joined them with the perfect timings, effects, and background music. That allowed SVM Mi Tom to become the famous YouTube web series that is today. And it's all thanks to my efforts.**_ "

"You mean _**our efforts**_ , right?" Hao rolled her eyes.

Cyber lets out a sigh, " _ **Yeah, true. Duc was the director, you guys were the actors, and I'm a mere program that Duc used to create his movies. But my purpose doesn't stop there yet.**_ " Clearing his non-existent throat, Cyber continued his story, " _ **About two months ago, Duc was approached by Digi2100 Corporation, a brand new upstart IT company from the United States, who had set up shop here in Hanoi. The company had heard about Duc's genius and his works with me, and they offered us an internship there.**_ "

"And?"

" _ **Digi2100 Corporation, despite its young age, had proven itself as one of the major players in the IT scene, rivaling that of Microsoft and Apple within short notice,**_ " Cyber continued, " _ **And their specialty? Artificial intelligence. The company was interested in both Duc and myself and seek to have us among their ranks, and considering that this is a rising international company with decent payment here…naturally we accepted Digi2100's offer. They asked Duc to create this iPhone battery charging case in order for me to install myself inside Duc's iPhone…for the selection process.**_ "

"Selection process?" Hao asked, "What does that mean?"

Suddenly the conversation was interrupted by screams coming out from outside the tent. Carrying Cyber with her, Hao ran out of the tent and immediately her eyes were feasted with a sight out of a horror film.

The park was in a complete mess, trees snapped into two everywhere, patches of grass were torn out of the ground, while the _SVM Mi Tom_ crew members, who were just filming a few minutes ago, were all now sprawled on the ground, nursing bruises and cuts. The filming equipment that the crew were carrying were also damaged, scattered across the ground.

As Hao tried to comprehend the situation around her, she notices Linh Chuon lying on the ground nearby, badly bruised with her clothes torn up in various places.

"Linh!" Hao called out, immediately rushing towards her friend's side and helping her up, "Are you okay?"

"Dong…" Linh Chuon coughed, "Dong…he's…"

"It's okay," Hao told Linh Chuon as she leaned her friend's body against a nearby tree, "Just tell me, what happened?"

Linh Chuon weakly pointed behind Hao, gesturing her friend to turn around. Looking behind her, Hao was taken by shock by what she saw.

Dong, his body now radiating blue energy, was on an inhuman rampage, throwing an assortment of objects around him, before picking up several stones and chucking them at Duc, who was trying his best in calming his friend down. Seconds afterwards Dong's entire body was overtaken by blue glowing pixels, which disintegrated seconds afterwards to reveal a monstrous being in Dong's place.

The being was humanoid in shape and was based on a golem, standing proud and tall with a hulking, muscular figure. White was the being's predominant color, with blue lines adorning the ankles, wrists, shins, thighs and arms, while the being's face was dark brown in color with a black _kippah_ (Jewish headpiece) on top of his head. Adding more to the being's overall Israeli theme were the shoulder pads that were made to resemble the famous Dome of the Rock of Jerusalem, even sharing the same gold-and-blue color scheme. On the being's chest was the Star of David, emblazoned proudly in blue, while blue loincloths hung from the being's waist. The being's fists were slightly oversized for the being's proportion, with Hebrew inscriptions written all over it, while the being's black eyes were devoid of any soul or emotion.

"What on Earth is that?!" Hao gawked as Linh Chuon passed out behind her.

" _ **A Malware,**_ " Cyber answered, " _ **Virus . DOS** ** _._ Jerusalem, to be exact.**_"

"Malware?" a clearly confused Hao asked.

" _ **Malicious programing brought to life,**_ " Cyber replied, " _ **I don't know how your friend got infected by it, but by the looks of it, he's been infected quite badly.**_ "

"Wha…how…" Hao stammered, her mind unable to process what is going on right now before she regained control in the last second, "What should we do?"

" _ **Try to get Duc here,**_ " Cyber told Hao, " _ **He should know what you should do next.**_ "

"What should _**I**_ do?!" Hao gawked, before a brief electrical shock from her iPhone forced her to her senses, "Alright, alright!"

The newly awakened Jerusalem Malware lets out a roar, launching a punch towards Duc that the young man easily rolled away from. The tree standing Duc was not so fortunate though, as it was overtaken by a blue glow the moment Jerusalem's fist touched it, the tree inflating in size for a few seconds before exploding into blue binary codes that were absorbed by Jerusalem's body.

"More, more!" Jerusalem chuckled deeply, "Me must gather more data!"

Jerusalem's fists began to glow blue, the Hebrew inscriptions on them slowly floating up from his skin before curling themselves into a pair of blue energy balls. As Duc ran away from the Malware, the kaijin aimed his fists at the fleeing young man, before letting out a deep growl as he unleashes the energy balls at Duc.

"Shit!" Duc cursed as he saw the incoming balls.

Quickly Duc performed a front-flip, avoiding the first energy ball that disintegrated the grass beneath Duc's feet, before the young man made a graceful yet hasty landing. Seeing a nearby tree, Duc made his way towards it, nimbly going around the tree before the second energy ball made impact with it seconds afterwards, the tree in question being reduced into data as a result.

"That was close…" Duc muttered as he saw the tree's remnants being absorbed into Jerusalem. One wrong step, and it could be him that was digitized into the Malware's body.

"Duc!"

Duc looked up to see Hao gesturing him to come towards a nearby tree that she's hiding behind at. Seeing that Jerusalem has resorted to randomly firing his energy balls at the surroundings, Duc quickly went towards Hao's hiding place, where he could hopefully catch his breath from what's going on right now.

"You okay?" Hao asked as Duc sat down next to her, sweat drenching the young man's body.

"I'm good," Duc nodded, before he notices Cyber in Hao's hands, "What are you doing with my charging case?"

" _ **Long story,**_ " Cyber answered quickly, " _ **But to make it short…Duc, you should be mindful of your things, you know.**_ "

"I'm sorry Duc," Hao added, "I was searching for something that would charge my iPhone's battery so that I could arrange a doctor's appointment for Dong later today and I happened upon your charging case. I didn't know that it'll install your digital assistant thing into my phone…"

Duc lets out a dismayed sigh, "God, why the fuck did everything went wrong today?!"

" _ **Duc, calm down,**_ " Cyber told the young man, " _ **We need to think through this with cool heads and calm minds. So, as far as we know, your friend has been infected by a Malware, I've ended up inside your other friend's phone, and now she must save her friend as a Kamen Rider.**_ "

"As a WHAT?!" Hao's eyes went wide in shock upon hearing that.

"I guess Cyber hasn't told you, huh," Duc sighed again, still dismayed but this time trying his best to stay calm, "How much did Cyber told you, Hao?"

"Up until something regarding the selection process for your internship at Digi2100," Hao replied.

"There goes my internship," Duc muttered underneath his breath, his voice inaudible to anyone, before glancing to see Hao's guilt-stricken eyes. Something about them told Duc that everything that has happened to them wasn't completely Hao's fault, and that she was being pushed into the situation against her will. Letting out yet another sigh, Duc clenched his fists, a new determination burning inside the young man.

"Duc?" Hao asked, noticing that her friend has gone silent for quite a while.

"Hao, what you're about to do is extremely dangerous," Duc finally spoke, his eyes staring straight into Hao's, "I've prepared for this day for two months, only to have things getting screwed up in the last second. But it's okay…it's my fault for being careless and you're just in the wrong place in the wrong time. Now here's the deal. Our friend Dong…he has been infected by a Malware. Did Cyber told you what a Malware is?"

"A malicious program brought to reality," Hao replied.

"Exactly. These things usually infect computers and software only, but for some reason they decided to infect people in real life as well," Duc continued, "Digi2100 has approached me and offered me an internship there…an internship to save the world from these Malwares."

" _ **Duc and I were chosen as one of the 12 Kamen Riders participating in the selection process,**_ " Cyber added, " _ **We were tasked in eliminating as much Malwares as possible, and the one who manage to solve the Malware problem completely will earn a spot in the corporation**_ **.** "

"It's quite a bizarre selection process for an internship," Duc said again, "But the fate of the world is at stake here. Which is why…I'm asking you to do this, Hao. Will you…fight as a Kamen Rider in my place?"

Hao went silent, her mind processing what Duc and Cyber had told her. All throughout her life, Hao considered herself a normal young woman, a normal university student, with the side job of being a YouTube actress. But becoming a superhero that could save the world from bizarre monsters that took over the bodies of people around her? That was just too much for Hao.

"I can't."

Immediately after hearing that Duc shook his head slowly in dismay, Cyber letting out an inaudible sigh as well.

"I can't do this, Duc," Hao said again, "I mean…it's your responsibility, right? Why are you giving it to me, someone who still has no clue on what's going on right now? Why can't you, as someone with more experience with this, burden this responsibility and fight these Mal-whatever-it is by yourself? Why can you and Cyber just work together like you're supposed to do?"

 ***SLAP***

Cyber's eyes went wide in shock as Hao clutched her right cheek in pain. Duc, in the other hand, had a determined and angry look on his face, having slapped Hao with all of his might just seconds ago.

"Now listen here," Duc told Hao sternly, "Cyber has been installed in your phone, so he's now our responsibility whether you like it or not. And I mean our as in you and me, not just me. If I could uninstall Cyber from your phone and install it at mine, I would do that right now, but I can't. Even if I plug my phone into that charging case in your hand, it wouldn't do jack shit, it'll be just another normal iPhone charging case. But if your phone's plugged in there…you'll be able to unlock Cyber's full potential. Long story short, you're going to fight as Kamen Rider, whether you like it or not."

Still rubbing her cheek in pain, Hao looked at Duc straight in the eye, a slight glare coming off from the former.

"Don't do this for yourself," Duc told Hao again, "Don't do this for my sake as well. But do it for Dong's sake. He's our friend for fuck's sake! Don't you care about him?!"

Hao nodded slightly.

"Then get your fucking ass out there and fight!" Duc yelled, "As for my internship, don't worry about me, I'll talk with the guys at Digi2100 about this. But for the time being, I want you to fight. Cyber and I will guide you from here, so don't worry. Now, do you want to have Dong back or not?!"

Hao sank herself in her thoughts after hearing that, her mind still struggling between refusing her new responsibilities altogether and her friendship with Dong. With Jerusalem still rampaging in the area, Hao could sense Dong trying futilely to gain control of his actions, with the Malware infecting him having completely taken over both his actions and his body.

"Duc…is that what you felt out there?" Hao asked, "Dong…he's still in there, is he?"

Duc nodded, "He's always with us, Hao. It's the matter whether you can free him or not."

Sighing rather reluctantly, Hao turned her attention towards Cyber, "You'll help me out there, right?"

" _ **Of course!**_ " Cyber replied, a smile on his face, " _ **It's an honor to work together with you, Tran Thi Hao.**_ "

Hao nodded slightly, before turning her attention back towards Duc, "Fine, I'll do it."

Duc lets out a smile of relief.

"But only this time, for Dong's sake," Hao continued, wiping away the smile from Duc's face, "After that, good luck persuading me to do this again."

"At least it's better than nothing," Duc sighed in dismay, "Alright, press your home button on your iPhone. That should bring you back to your usual home screen. Don't worry, Cyber has his own app installed in your phone, he'll show up again when you open it. Other than that, he'll work in the background."

Hao reluctantly obliged, pressing her iPhone's home button which caused Cyber's visage to disappear completely, being replaced with Hao's home screen. However, an icon resembling Cyber's face was present amongst the many apps displayed on the screen.

"Now open Cyber's app again," Duc continued, "You'll see a new option underneath his face."

Hao opened Cyber's app, allowing the AI's face to take over her screen once again, but this time with the green and yellow button flashing underneath him, the words " **TRANSFORM!** " emblazoned on it.

"Press that button," Duc commanded.

Hao complied, pressing the " **TRANSFORM!** " button. This prompted the words " **TRANSFORM!** " to change into " **STANDBY!** " while green and yellow binary codes began to materialize around Hao's waist, forming a yellow belt with dark green accents. A small, dark green, box-shaped container was present on Hao's right hip, while a small, SD Card slot, also colored dark green, was present on the left hip. Completing the belt's look was a vertical slot on its center, acting as the belt's buckle, with the slot being large enough for Cyber's iPhone charging case to fit inside. A continuous techno remix standby tune was played out from the belt, an indicator that the belt was now ready to be used.

"Whoa…" Hao gasped upon seeing the belt around her waist, "What's this?"

"The Cyber Driver," Duc answered, before giving Hao further instructions, "Now place your phone in front of you and yell **Henshin!** Can't be a Kamen Rider without that, can you? After that, just place your phone into the buckle slot and let Cyber do the rest."

Immediately Hao did what Duc told him to do, placing her iPhone in front of her as she took a deep breath, her eyes closing up slowly. Her inner doubts started to act up again, a part of Hao wanted her to back out of this in the last second. But her desire to save Dong from whatever's taking over him soon prevailed, knowing that as crazy as it seems, this was the only way to save Dong.

" _Here goes nothing…_ " Hao thought to herself as she opened her eyes once again, her mouth ready to utter that legendary word, " **Henshin!** "

Hao quickly slotted her iPhone onto the slot on the Cyber Driver's buckle, clicking it onto place and causing Cyber's face to disappear from her iPhone screen altogether, being replaced with an entirely green screen with a yellow download progress bar.

" **INSTALL: CYBER!** " Cyber announced as the progress bar filled up rapidly, reaching 100% within seconds.

And with that, a green rectangular projection shot out from Hao's iPhone screen, the projection having a blueprint image of a knight-themed armored warrior on it. The projection slowly moved towards Hao, before it disintegrated into green pixels that attached themselves onto Hao's body, forming a suit of armor around her.

Hao's armored form resembled that of a medieval knight, wearing a dark green bodysuit with metallic armor of the same coloring with silver accents encasing the shins and wrists. The armor's boots were yellow in color, so were the kneepads and the shoulder armors, the latter having a mix of silver and dark green accents. Silver skirt armor with yellow accents protected the waist region, with the ones covering the hips protecting both the container and the SD Card slot on the Cyber Driver. The chest armor was yellow in color, split in half in the middle by a glowing green orb-shaped crystal with an image of a knight's helmet emblazoned in black inside it. The medieval theme was also present on the armor's helmet, which has its black mouth-guard retracted to the armor's chin region while the helmet's silver and green-accented visor was retracted upwards, exposing Cyber's familiar face for the world to see. The helmet itself was colored dark green, with yellow lines on the forehead and a pair of yellow, wing-like protrusions that protected the helmet's ear region. As a final touch, the visor had a single horn on its center, giving off a rhinoceros-like impression.

" **FIGHTING IN UNITY, THE KNIGHT OF CYBERSPACE!** " Cyber announced once again, signaling the completion of the transformation.

An amazed smile made itself known on Duc's face upon seeing Hao's armored form, a feeling of somewhat satisfaction spreading throughout the young man.

"She's done it…" Duc said in awe, his eyes admiring every inch of Hao's armor.

A speechless Hao checked out her armor in both amazement and disbelief, her eyes checking out the armoring on her shoulders and wrists as her hands clenched themselves into fists repeatedly in order to adjust herself to her new armor.

"Holy shit…" Hao gasped in disbelief as reality began to set within her, "I'm actually wearing this…"

" _ **Tran Thi Hao, together you and I will fight as one,**_ " Cyber told Hao from a hidden intercom within her helmet, the young woman's field of vision now being replaced with a transparent green HUD that showed her everything that she needs to know about both her opponent and the battlefield's terrain, " _ **United together, we are…Kamen Rider…Cyber!**_ "

"Eh?" Hao blinked, "We're naming ourselves now?"

" _ **Actually it's hardcoded into my programming, so you can't change it, sorry,**_ " Cyber replied.

"It's okay," Hao said, a slight smile forming on her face, "I kinda like it. Now let's go save Dong!"

" _ **That's the spirit!**_ " Cyber exclaimed, as the mouth-guard and visor on Hao's helmet slammed themselves shut, the helmet's eyes glowing green afterwards.

Immediately Hao charged into battle, blindsiding the still rampaging Jerusalem with a straight jab to the kaijin's back. Clearly surprised by that attack, Jerusalem stumbled back, his black eyes billowing in anger.

"Who dare to punch me, Jerusalem?!" Jerusalem growled, before he took notice of Hao nearby him, "You! You did this!"

"Yada-yada, can we get this over with?" Hao rolled her eyes inside her helmet.

Feeling that he's being challenged, Jerusalem lets out yet another roar, this time filled with pure anger and venom, before making a mad dash towards Hao. Before she could realize it, Jerusalem slammed his right fist against Hao's chest armor, his left fist following suit. Seconds afterwards Hao's body was toppled to the ground, Jerusalem wailing havoc with his punches onto the Rider's chest armor.

"Shit!" Hao cursed.

" _ **What are you doing?!**_ " Cyber asked, " _ **Fight back!**_ "

"How am I supposed to fight back?" Hao asked back, her voice strained as she battled the pain racking her body, "I couldn't get an opening!"

Not contempt in just bashing Hao's chest armor with his fists, Jerusalem proceeds to grab Hao by her head, forcing her to her feet before tossing the green Rider aside. Hao landed back-first with a loud thud, the young woman letting out a pained groan afterwards.

" _ **What happened to 'let's go save Dong?'**_ " Cyber asked, his tone rather irritated, " _ **I thought you wanted to fight because you want to save him!**_ "

"I'm trying!" Hao replied.

" _ **You're not trying hard enough!**_ "

"Well excuse me Mr. Smarty Pants, I'm not that of a fighter!" Hao argued, "This is my first time, okay? Be nice!"

" _ **I could but we're in a fucking life and death situation here!**_ " Cyber argued back, before he realized something, " _ **Shit, he's coming again!**_ "

True to Cyber's words, Jerusalem was charging towards the downed Hao, grabbing the Rider by her feet before spinning her around. Hao lets out a nauseated scream of terror as her vision became blurred, the spinning starting to take a toll on her body. Letting out a roar, Jerusalem let go of Hao's feet, sending the Rider flying into the nearby bushes.

"Fuck!" Hao cursed as she landed on some thorny vines, "I think I'm going to be sick…"

Duc face-palmed in dismay upon seeing Hao's performance, cursing at himself for letting such an incompetent fighter to have access to the power that he had prepared so much to use.

" _That idiot!_ " Duc's mind's cursed, " _She couldn't even beat a fucking DOS Malware…and they're the weakest of the lot! Looks like I've got my work cut out for me…_ "

Duc then noticed a slightly large tree branch lying idly nearby. He then glanced at Hao and Jerusalem's fight, where the latter was now seen stomping mercilessly at the former's chest armor. Clenching his fists tightly, Duc knew that he must do something.

"HYAAAAAAAAAH!"

Jerusalem turned his head around to see Duc heading straight towards him, gripping the tree branch tightly in his hands. Kicking away the downed Hao, Jerusalem immediately received a smack to the head by Duc's branch, before a couple more smacks to his shoulder ensued. The attacks didn't faze Jerusalem at all, as his dense muscular body easily absorbed the blows. However the Malware lets Duc smack him repeatedly with his branch, waiting for the opportunity to strike when the young man started to tire out.

A few moments later that opportunity came, as Duc's blows became more and more weak, the young man looking visibly tired with sweat running down his face and shirt. After Duc landed a pathetic hit with his tree branch onto Jerusalem's shoulder, the Malware seized the opportunity to smack aside the young man's branch before grabbing Duc by his throat.

"Duc!" Hao called out, the Rider struggling through her pain to stand up.

"Dong…" Duc groaned as Jerusalem tightened his grip around his neck, "Please…wake up…"

"Dong? Me don't know no Dong," Jerusalem told Duc, "Me don't like insect like you. Die!"

Jerusalem tossed Duc aside, the young man's body smacking against a nearby tree. As Hao watched on in horror, Jerusalem slowly approached the downed Duc, his fists slowly charging with blue energy. As the kaijin slowly went closer and closer to him, Duc slowly closes his eyes, his body too weak to fight back and the young man had seemingly accepted his fate.

"Me want you to become data," Jerusalem said, preparing a ball of blue energy with his right fist, "Me want your data!"

Unknown to Jerusalem, Hao had already stood up behind him, her fists clenched in anger and fury can be easily seen on her helmet's green eyes.

Before the Malware could fire his attack and finish off Duc, a dark green hand poked Jerusalem twice on his right shoulder, prompting him to turn around and receive a nasty punch straight at his face.

"Owww!" Jerusalem yowled in pain as he backed away clutching his nose, "That hurt!"

The one who had punched Jerusalem was none other than Hao herself, breathing heavily from the pent-up rage within her, her emotions ready to explode at any second.

"No one, no one fucks with my friend and gets away with it," Hao said menacingly, her fists clenched tightly and her eyes letting off a murderous glare, "Let's go, Cyber."

" _ **Finally you've gotten your head into the game, Hao,**_ " Cyber replied in relief and determination, " _ **Let's!**_ "

 **(Cue BGM: Atsui Tatakai – Takao Konishi from the Ultraman X BGM OST)**

Hao charged into battle, kicking Jerusalem on the stomach once, before punching the Malware twice on his chest. A hook to the kaijin's right cheek ensued, followed up by a powerful chop to the throat that left Jerusalem stunned. The Malware retaliated by head-butting Hao on the chest, knocking her to the ground bottom-first, but the Rider quickly got back to her feet.

Slowly Duc got up, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes in disbelief before wearing them again. What he saw was a complete reversal of the earlier battle – Hao now had full control of it, using an assortment of punches and chops to held Jerusalem at bay. Her fighting style's still crude, but it was more than enough to trouble the kaijin.

"Hao…" Duc uttered.

Hao landed an uppercut onto Jerusalem's chin, before delivering a powerful kick onto the kaijin's head, sparks flying from where Hao's boot had impacted. Backing away in pain, Jerusalem prepared his energy balls, firing them at Hao but only for the Rider to harmlessly deflect them with her gauntlet armors. It was that moment when the crystal on Hao's chest began to flash, the young woman feeling that her energy had been sapped away within seconds. A loud beeping noise also echoed from the crystal, overwhelming Hao's ears within seconds.

 **(BGM ends)**

"What's going on?" Hao asked as she slowly fell to one knee from the fatigue.

" _ **Our synchronization could only last for three minutes,**_ " Cyber explained, " _ **The human body isn't exactly made to synchronize with an artificial intelligence like me, which means we could only fight safely for three minutes. More than that and it'll pose a danger for the two of us!**_ "

"How much time do we have left?" Hao asked again as she forced herself to stand up.

" _ **One minute,**_ " came the answer from Cyber.

A smirk developed underneath Hao's helmet, "One minute's good enough."

 **(Cue BGM: X no Tatakai – Takao Konishi from the Ultraman X BGM OST)**

Hao reached for her iPhone on her Driver's buckle, an assortment of four icons was present on the screen. One icon resembled a sword, another a gun, the third one a motorcycle, the three of them lined up like how app icons in an iPhone are supposed to line up. The fourth one, however, was a red button with the words " **DELETE THREATS** " emblazoned in white on it, hovering just above the home button.

"What does this do?" Hao asked, her right index finger hovering above the red button.

" _ **That's your finishing attack,**_ " Cyber answered, " _ **Press it and you will be presented with two extra buttons. Swipe the right one downwards!**_ "

Hao obliged, tapping the " **DELETE THREATS** " button with her right index finger.

" **DELETION INITIATED!** " Cyber announced as two new icons showed up on the screen that overlaid the others, the one on the right resembling a boot on fire, while the one on the left resembled a sword and a gun crossing each other.

Hao quickly swiped the boot icon downwards, prompting a white download bar to appear on her iPhone screen.

" **BRUTE FORCE DELETION!** " Cyber announced again as the download bar filled up instantly, " **CYBER PURGE!** "

Green and yellow energy erupted from Hao's iPhone and into the Cyber Driver, traveling down her waist and into her right boot. As Jerusalem readied himself for another offensive, Hao immediately charged forward, green and yellow electricity surging off her right boot with each step. Leaping into the air, Hao immediately assumed a flying side kick position, her energized right boot ready to strike.

"Take this!" Hao yelled as she descended.

Jerusalem could do nothing as Hao kicked him square on his chest, sending him flying a few meters away before landing on the ground with a loud thud. Seconds afterwards Jerusalem's entire body exploded into blue flames and pixels as Hao landed gracefully, her back turned against the explosion from Jerusalem's destruction.

 **(BGM ends)**

" **DELETION COMPLETE,** " Cyber announced as the flames and pixels died out behind Hao, " _ **Nice job! Not bad for your first time out.**_ "

"More like my first and last time," Hao sighed, "Now how do I take this off?"

" _ **Just press your home button,**_ " Cyber replied, " _ **It's as simple as exiting an app on an iPhone, really.**_ "

Hao nodded, pressing her iPhone's phone button. This caused her armor to disintegrate into green and yellow pixels, leaving Hao in her civilian form once again. She then proceeded to pull out her iPhone from the Cyber Driver, causing the latter to disintegrate into green and yellow binary codes.

Immediately Hao went over the site of Jerusalem's destruction, and much to her relief she saw Dong lying with his eyes wide awake on the crater created by the Malware's explosion. The young man was slightly bruised and looking confused, but other than that he's pretty much okay.

"Hao?" Dong asked weakly as Hao went over to his side before she helped him to his feet, "What happened?" Dong was even more surprised when he saw the destruction around them, "What on Earth…"

"Long story," Hao told Dong as they made their way towards a slightly bruised Duc, who was sitting nearby, "I'll let Duc explain it for you."

Hao helped the slightly disoriented Dong to sit next to Duc, before taking out her iPhone and detaching it from its charging case. Hao then handed Duc the charging case, much to the latter's surprise.

"But why?" Duc asked, "It's yours now. Keep it."

"Like I said," Hao told Duc, "I'm only doing this for Dong's sake. He's safe and sound now, so I won't be needing that anymore."

"But Hao, you're a Kamen Rider now!" Duc argued, "You can't just walk away from your responsibilities like that!"

"Correction, _**you're**_ the Kamen Rider now," Hao talked back, pointing at Duc much to the young man's bewilderment, "I'm Tran Thi Hao, your friend and actress for your _SVM Mi Tom_ thing. Not Tran Thi Hao, a Kamen Rider fighting some weird creatures that came out from computers and shit. Now if you excuse me…I'm going back home."

Hao immediately left behind the speechless Duc and Dong, pausing for a moment to take out her iPhone as it was vibrating. The moment she unlocked her phone, she was met with Cyber's face, the AI clearly looking displeased.

" _ **Hao, you can't just do that,**_ " Cyber scolded Hao, " _ **The city needs you to protect it from the Malwares! You're a Kamen Rider now for God's sake! You can't…**_ "

Cyber was immediately silenced by Hao turning off her iPhone, the young woman pocketing it afterwards before continuing her walk home.

Duc lets out a sigh as Hao disappeared from his field of vision, a slightly confused Dong next to him.

"What's up with her?" Dong asked, "And what just happened here?"

"I'll explain later," Duc replied, letting out another sigh of dismay afterwards.

" _Something tells me that this is going to be a long ride…_ "

Unknown to Duc, Dong, or Hao, the mysterious young woman in black from last night was present on the area, hiding herself behind a tree. As she saw Hao walking past her hiding place, a sly smile appeared on the woman's visage.

"A new player has joined the game," the young woman said to no one in particular as her eyes silently tracked Hao's every movement, "Things are getting…interesting."

 **xxx**

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**

 **xxx**

 **Next time, on Kamen Rider Cyber, episode 2 – Are You Feeling Lucky?!**

Hao has decided to continue her life as a normal university student and YouTube actress, trying her best to put behind her brief tenure as Kamen Rider Cyber despite Cyber's insistence that she continue her role as a Rider. Things get complicated however when the Malwares decided to strike her university and with Hao still reluctant to become a Rider, a surprising character will take up the plate as a new Rider enters the stage!

 **INSTALL: MOSAIC! TEST YOUR LUCK AND SOLVE THE PUZZLE OF FATE!**

 **xxx**

 **Malware of the Day**

 **Virus . DOS . Jerusalem**

 **Type:** DOS Malware

 **Host:** Ho Van Dong

 **Abilities:** super strength, oversized fists perfect for bludgeoning, blue energy balls capable of converting matter into data, data absorption, the ability to charge his fists with blue energy that would convert anything into data upon being hit

 **Weapons:** None

 **Malware history:** Virus . DOS . Jerusalem was notable for being one of the oldest computer viruses in existence, dating back to October 1st, 1987. It earns its name from where it was first found, the city of Jerusalem in Israel. This was also evident on the Malware's physical form – being based on a Golem, a creature from Hebrew mythology, with the addition of a _kippah_ on his head, his shoulder pads that were designed to resemble the Dome of the Rock, and the Star of David emblazoned on his chest, all of them reflected the Malware's Israeli nature. The real .Jerusalem works by infecting every executable file run on the DOS platform, with the exception of COMMAND . COM. COM files grow by 1,813 bytes when they're infected by Jerusalem and they are not re-infected. .EXE files grow by 1,808 to 1,823 bytes each time they are infected. It has one destructive payload which will go off on every Friday 13th with the exception of 1987, where the virus will delete every program file that was executed.

 **Destroyed by:** Kamen Rider Cyber's Cyber Purge

 **xxx**

 **A/N: And we are done! The first chapter of** _ **Kamen Rider Cyber**_ **all done and dusted. Let me know what you think through the reviews but remember, no flames! And don't forget to favorite and follow this story…and my account too, since I'm going to cough out a lot of stories in the near future! Wish me luck! Because doing three stories at the same time…not to mention real life stuff…I'm gonna die lol**

 **And in case anyone's wondering why I made an extra space on a few names (Jerusalem . exe or Virus . DOS . Jerusalem are the examples), it's because FFN automatically deletes the name if I don't place an extra space between. I have no idea why, but I think it's for safety procedures. So yeah, I hope you guys understand...since I'll be using a lot and I mean a lot of computer terms and names in this story.**

 **This is maxpower02, signing off!**


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